The Founding Empress's Rise Through the Ranks

Recommended: my completed novels The Rejected Fiancée Who Escaped the Plot, The Fake Crown Prince Who Transmigrated into a Book and Became the Real Empress, The Old Peasant Woman, and more. Blurb (the heroine focuses on building her career) Archaeology PhD Liu Mingyue transmigrated, becoming the founding empress. . It seemed like a perfect match for her expertise, but this wasn't the era she knew. It seemed she'd inherited the original owner's honored status, but in reality, she had to deal with the enormous mess the original owner had left behind. . So Liu Mingyue maintained the original owner's image as a virtuous empress in public, while secretly planning to build a navy, organize a fleet, establish workshops, open shops, and develop maritime trade, all while making money by moving it from one hand to the other. . After successfully earning countless gold and silver, she could use her wealth to build herself an incredibly sturdy safety net. . During this time, Liu Mingyue and the original owner's husband, the founding emperor, went from a distant married couple to partners, then to comrades who could rely on each other, and eventually to confidants who could entrust each other with the empire, all because they shared a common goal. . Liu Mingyue had thought that serving as empress in several dynasties, assisting in governance, and eventually becoming regent empress dowager would be the pinnacle of her life. . She never expected that all of this was merely the starting point of her turbulent, extraordinary life. . Sitting in the seat that represented the highest imperial authority, Liu Mingyue felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. She would build infrastructure on a grand scale, reduce taxes and labor service, encourage agricultural production, let the people rest and recover, and develop industry. . Liu Mingyue's goal was to lay the best possible foundation for the future of this country and its people at the start of this new dynasty, when so much remained to be rebuilt. . She wanted the descendants of Yan and Huang in this world to never suffer the humiliating history she knew. . Blurb for the upcoming novel, A Different World, A Place of Honor: In this otherworld, where bloodline, aptitude, and strength are revered, Qi Zhen was born into a collateral branch of a great clan. . Before the most favored cousin went to serve as a study companion to the legitimate line of the collateral branch, she wept in indignation: "It's so unfair! We're all descended from the same ancestor, so why should I have to debase myself and volunteer to be someone's maid?" . Qi Zhen simply watched her in silence. Because the elders favored others, she wasn't even qualified to compete for the position of study companion. . The cherished young lady of the collateral branch looked at the genius from the clan's branch and complained bitterly: "We're all descendants of Queen Qi, so why should I have to suck up to them?" . Qi Zhen had fought hard to earn the chance to train with the collateral branch's legitimate line. She glanced at the cousin following the other girl and found the complaint strangely familiar. . A genius from the direct line of the branch looked at the Qi clan's prodigy on the Nine Provinces Hidden Dragon List and sighed from the heart: "Heaven is unfair! We're both descended from King Qi, yet the difference between us is as vast as a chasm!" . Qi Zhen: If hard work can't make up for the gap in bloodline aptitude, then I'll just have to use a cheat. Theme: Women should strive to be independent